


Tempus Fugit

by in_motu_proprio



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: M/M, Male Slash, Memory Loss, Rough Sex, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 04:32:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/in_motu_proprio/pseuds/in_motu_proprio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor is going to see The Shell open, a once in a millennia event.  He thinks he's going to see an old friend, but winds up finding an even older friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tempus Fugit

**Title:** Tempus Fugit  
 **Author:** in_motu_proprio  
 **Rating:** NC-17 BIG TIME  
 **Genre:** Hurt/Comfort.... sort of.  
 **Warnings:** Things get a touch rough, slash happens.  
 **Written For:**

The planet of Ethelion was one The Doctor had been to only a handful of times. It was brutal and vicious, but held one of the most prolific and astoundingly beautiful aquariums in the universe. When he got a bit maudlin or just needed to see an Andelosian otter do maths, he'd pop past and see a new exhibit. He'd even left a new exhibit or two tucked away where some employee would find it. This time he wasn't going to drop anything off. He was actually going to see a once in a millennia event. 

The Chief Mariner was in charge not only the welfare of the animals that were kept here, but also of the underwater wing where you had to go in in a wetsuit unless, of course, you were a water-based life form. Then you could just go in in your skivvies. The Doctor wondered how many human children had been mortified by seeing up a cephalopod's apron. As he tore his mind off of bifurcated genitals, he spotted the man himself. The Chief Mariner was a tall man, broader than The Doctor remembered. He spotted the man by the badge on his shoulder and the long lab coat he wore. The last time he'd sat with the man had been half a dozen faces ago. "Arliss," he greeted, clasping his hand on the man's shoulder. The person who turned around was known to The Doctor, but it was not Arliss Gratob. 

"Cap'n Jack Harkness." The wink was ubiquitous, as were the crinkles around his eyes. The Doctor almost wanted to throttle him if he wasn't actually glad to see him. "Glad you could join us." It took The Doctor a moment, blinking a few times until he registered all the changes. Jack's hair was a touch longer and there was far more gray in it. He noticed a wrinkle here or there and that the skin on the backs of his hands were a little thinner. He didn't look old, not proper gray old man, but he was looking decidedly middle aged, though still trim and quite fit. 

"J... John," The Doctor said, "John Smith." He knew at once that Jack hadn't recognized him. How long had it been, then? He tried to assess it and Jack clearly took that as interest, sliding into a slightly more intimate posture before asking him if he'd ever been fitted for a wetsuit. The Doctor pulled back, flushed and apoplectic, getting a wide grin from Jack. "I have my own, thanks though." There would be no need for Jack to measure his inseam ever again. "I... I thought that Arliss Gratob was the current Chief Mariner. Things happen a bit mixed up for me sometimes, so I'll just...." 

Jack reached out and stopped The Doctor, his fingers curling around his shoulder. With an expression that said he'd seen far too much death, he explained. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you John, but Arliss passed away." The Doctor tried to figure out how far off the mark he was by the surroundings. At least twenty years. More? "How long now," he asked Jack as the man started to lead him towards a couch next to a large aquarium. 

"Arliss has been gone ... let's see, about a hundred years now." The Doctor could clearly see that Jack's interest was piqued. The Doctor might be 900, but he didn't look 900. He could almost see Jack's mind listing out possibilities. Time travel would be first, followed by long-lived species, followed by scam. There might be more he wasn't accounting for, but he could almost feel Jack's eyes taking him in in a Holmesian fashion to try to figure him out. "Missed him by a wide margin, then," The Doctor joked. He didn't sit, just looked at Jack. "How long have you been here," he pushed back. 

Jack's brow arched. Touche'. "I have been the Chief Mariner for fifteen years now." He didn't sit either, and The Doctor was once again getting a little twitchy about Jack's proximity. The man was handsy on a good day and The Doctor was not the man he once was. "Was there something you'd come to see Arliss about that I might be able to help you with?" Glad to be back to the topic at hand, The Doctor nodded. "Yes, quite. The Shell. She's opening soon, isn't she?" Jack wouldn't need any more detail than that if he really was Chief Mariner. He'd know that 'John' was talking about the jewel of the collection, a thirty foot shell that opened once a millennia and displayed the pearl it had created in that time. 

"In the next week," Jack agreed. "Would you like to see her?" Within ten minutes they were rounding the edge of the great tank that kept The Shell. It was bigger now than he remembered it. On the outside The Shell was so bland, gray-brown with ridges and bumps. It looked like an eye sore in the middle of a beautiful environment that was carefully controlled for The Shell's optimal growth and well-being. It could be viewed from any angle via a variety of decks, stairs, and gantries. Jack took them to the side of the tank, looking through the thick glass with a sigh. "I wish Arliss could have seen this." The Doctor noted the hint Jack dropped and nodded. "Did you know him well?" He could see the twitch of Jack's lips, the curl that said he was amused and a bit nostalgic. "On several occasions I knew him _very, VERY_ well." 

The Doctor turned away, frustrated. Why must it always be sexual with Jack? Why must he always push buttons? If the man remembered who he was, would he still flirt? Or maybe, maybe... The Doctor realized that perhaps he was jealous that Jack was flirting with John Smith. "Ah." He turned and walked a bit ahead of Jack, watching the man's reflection in the glass. "I didn't know he swung that way... humans, that is." His lips twitched in an approximation of a smile as he looked down into the water. "Jealous," Jack asked, far closer than he ought to be. How did he get that close that fast? "Of him sleeping with you, of course not." The Doctor turned, finding Jack only inches from him, facing him. His pulse sped, body tensed, and he had the urge to jump into the water and swim away. 

"No." Jack ran his fingers down his arm, making The Doctor shiver. "Of me sleeping with him. I know I know you...." Jack pulled 'John' in and kissed him. It was slow at first, a press of the lips saying _hello_. Jack seemed to be sussing him out this way and there was little room to move when Jack's hips locked him in against the wall of the tank. The man didn't know who he was, but he was doing his damndest to figure it out. "Jack." It was breathless, a sort of begging tone that The Doctor didn't know he could make anymore. He was too old to have his hearts racing this fast. He felt like some horny teenager as Jack's hand sunk into his hair, sending shocks down The Doctor's spine. He couldn't remember the last time someone had touched him this intimately. Jack's lips had given him a moment to catch up but now they were off and running. The Doctor found himself with Jack pressed fully against him, invading his mouth with an agile tongue. Again, The Doctor said Jack's name but the tone was even more breathless. He needed to know. Did he remember? Jack had to remember. 

The sound of his name seemed to reignite Jack and The Doctor only realized his pants were undone when Jack's hand wrapped around his prick. There was no denying that Jack's kiss had gotten him going, but this was insane. Clearly it was just a day in the life of Cap'n Jack Harkness, though, because he seemed totally unfazed that he was giving a man a hand job in an aquarium. Granted they were there after the building was closed. Just researchers were left, but he realized that didn't matter. He doubted he'd have been able to stop even if the room was full of cat nuns. The Doctor's head fell back, meaning to break the kiss and tell Jack to stop. Things rarely turn out how The Doctor planned them, though, so why would this particular moment be any different. Instead of telling him to stop, he moaned. It wasn't a soft, low sort of moan. It was more of a keening animal noise that spoke of denial as it echoed off of the glass. The Doctor was mortified by the quality of the noises Jack was drawing out of him, but Jack just kept pushing, drawing the dirtiest noises out of him. 

Jack's amusement at his arousal was pissing him off and The Doctor tried to push him off. Jack had him at a disadvantage, though. He was highly aroused and Jack's hand on his prick felt warm and strong. "We knew each other a long time." Jack was working through it, kissing The Doctor's throat. He sunk his teeth in against the heavy tendons, making the man go stiff all over and let out a deep sigh that ended in a pathetically submissive sound. "You hold your sexuality at arm's length," Jack told The Doctor. "You'd almost rather not have it. But when you do.... " Jack's hand moved to cup 'John's' balls, giving them a healthy squeeze. It was a blur from there to Jack's wet lips caressing the under side of his cock. Jack had said something or other, but The Doctor doubted there was enough blood in his brain to recite pi to 100 places right now let alone process language. Instead, he just tried really hard not to make a fool of himself. 

On one particularly deep bob of Jack's head, The Doctor's hands finally broke away from the railing behind him and came to Jack's hair. After that there was little use fighting himself anymore. Jack had won. He held the immortal in place and let his hips move, catching Jack by surprise at first. A moment later, Jack had traded positions with him and knelt in front of the glass, head tilted back as 'John Smith' had his mouth... correction, his throat. John Smith wasn't careful. He wasn't kind. He rutted a bit like a beast undone by the pull of the moon in midsummer. John moved hard and fast, spilling the pearls of seed deep in Jack's throat. Well after he was done, he kept moving, remembering how good this could feel. Later there would be guilt and regret, but now there was just afterglow. 

When he could stand up properly again, he offered Jack a hand up. The Doctor wondered if Jack knew now. Did he remember? The man gave no indication of revelation as Jack pulled him closer for a kiss. He could feel Jack's prick through his slacks, the outline clearly pressed into The Doctor's thigh. Jack gave John slow, deep kisses, tugging gently on his hair with one hand and holding him at the small of the back with the other. Jack kissed down to his jaw then to the spot he'd bitten earlier, sucking at it until The Doctor was moaning again. "Please, Jack...." He sounded pathetic, like he was begging and he wasn't. He was NOT begging. 

"There are very few places I wouldn't let you fuck my face, Doctor, but if I'm going to have you again after all this time, it's going to be in a bed." He looked at him and considered the situation, smiling. "At least on a couch." Jack gave him that cheeky grin, brow raised at the look of relief on The Doctor's face. He knew. Jack remembered who he was. The Doctor grabbed the lapels of his lab jacket and pulled Jack in close. The open belt at The Doctor's waist jingled a little as it bumped into Jack's body. That sound and their breath was all that filled the space for a few moments before The Doctor finally kissed Jack. 

It wasn't as frantic as the oral had been, but The Doctor was beside himself that Jack remembered. It was silly that he'd felt lost a moment when Jack hadn't known him. He wasn't the one who wound up forgotten. That just wasn't the way The Doctor's story went. Except with Jack. Jack was always the exception. While The Shell opened behind them a full week early, disappointing pilgrims who were coming from all over the galaxy to see it, The Doctor showed Jack that he was never forgotten what they had together. Jack might have felt _wrong_ at some point, but right now The Doctor couldn't imagine anywhere else he wanted to be. No Donna, No Martha, No Rose, No Gallifrey, No anything but Cap'n Jack Harkness in that moment. "When did you know?"

Jack ran his fingers through The Doctor's hair, making it stick up in spikes. He smiled softly, fingertips caressing the side of the man's face. "When you broke." He gave the hair a tug and raised his brow. "The moment you tore your hands away from the railing I remembered that time in Cardiff. Mickey had taken Rose off and it was just you and I." Jack kissed the under side of John's chin as he continued, buckling John's pants up as he went. "I could almost smell the leather of your jacket and it all came flooding back." The Doctor remembered that night, too. Though it wasn't in as fond of terms as Jack clearly did. What he remembered was losing his temper and screaming at Jack. He remembered them getting physical, pushing for some reason, and it had just all gone out from there. Jack on his knees in front of the main controls and him fucking the young man's face. 

"You're sweating guilt. Don't." Jack's voice held gentle accusation and The Doctor flushed, following Jack as he headed away from the tank and towards the halls where the researchers worked. Jack was hiding the sizable errection he was sporting with the coat held folded over an arm and draped in front of him, so it seemed some classics never went out of style. "Hey," Jack snapped his fingers in The Doctor's general direction. "Stop looking at my ass and answer me." Had there been a question? From the sigh he got, it seemed there was. "Why do you feel guilty?" 

The Doctor blinked, taken aback. "... ah... pick a reason, any reason? There are many." At least he was being honest. Jack rolled his eyes. "In case you didn't notice, that night and every other time we had sex, you didn't exactly have to coerce me. Honestly, you Time Lords are such twisted prudes." Jack opened the door they'd paused in front of and he let The Doctor go in first. It was a pretty typical office. Desk, chair, couch, that sort of .... couch. He could still hear Jack's words next to the water. As if reading his mind, Jack tucked himself in close behind The Doctor and nipped his shoulder. "It folds out." That was all The Doctor needed to hear.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LJ group wintercompanion's anniversary challenge.


End file.
